All right. Well, as I mentioned in our intro,
we have a special guest speaker today. This man
I met, gosh, a number of months ago at the pastor's
meeting that we have over at Calvary Downey every
month and just has such a passion. And you're
going to see why for this particular issue in
dealing with pro -life and helping babies live.
That's really what it comes down to is to help
protect those who have no voice for themselves.
And so he's been involved with this organization,
White Rose, and I'm sure he'll tell you about
for a while now. We have met him. He was a big
part of helping us get started with our pro -life
ministry here at Hosanna. And so just a blessed
brother. I'm just pleased to know him and just
very blessed to be able to do ministry with him.
And so if you guys will please help me welcome
up Stephen Peas. Well, what an honor it is to
be here with you today. I'm very thankful to
Pastor Nathan for inviting me, and it's totally
from the Lord that I'm here with you guys today.
But let's, I also want to start in prayer, if
that's okay. Heavenly Father, we just come before
you. We thank you, God. We thank you for this
opportunity to come together, to hear your word,
to see what it is that you have to say. And Lord,
we pray that you would minister to our hearts.
We pray that you would speak to us, Lord God,
from your word, that you would minister to us
and that you would open our eyes specifically
and what it is you have to say about babies in
the womb, about the value of life. And Lord,
that we would take our understanding and the
way we look at things through the lens of scripture
and may it affect us deeply here today. Lord,
I pray that you would pour out your spirit upon
us, fall afresh upon us, be in this place right
now. We pray in Jesus' mighty name and all God's
people said, amen. Amen. Well, God bless you
guys. Thank you so much for being here today.
Today is Sanctity of Life Sunday. And so I have
the high honor of sharing at many churches about
what God says about life. And, you know, I was
a... I was a young kid who grew up at Calvary
Chapel. I got saved at a young age, and I backslid
pretty quick. By the time I was in high school,
I was doing drugs, and by the time I was 17 years
old, I was in and out of juvenile hall, and I
had joined, running with a gang, and just terrible,
right? Terrible, and I get out. I'm living in
sin with this girl, and if those of you who know
the Lord, you know that God is only going to
let you continue in your sin for so long before
he stops you in your tracks. And after six months
of living in sin with this girl, she comes to
me and says, Stephen, I'm pregnant. And instead
of doing the right thing, instead of saying I'm
going to be the man God's called me to be, I'm
going to straighten up and I'm going to take
care of you, I'm going to take care of this baby,
I ran to Planned Parenthood. And I ran and I
shirked my responsibilities and they said that
they were going to help us remove the contents
of pregnancy. They didn't call it a baby. They
didn't say it was a child. And so we had an abortion.
We went through with it. I paid for it, and I
convinced her that we should have it. And, you
know, they tell you they're going to help you.
They tell you they're going to help you remove
the contents of pregnancy, terminate the pregnancy.
What they don't tell you is that you're going
to be the parents of a dead child. And that was
the reality that sunk into my life after. And
so soon after that, alcohol was not working.
Drugs were not getting me high. And I decided
there was nowhere else I needed. There's nothing
else I could do. I had to turn back to the Lord.
I knew that. And so we broke up. And she blamed
me. It was my fault. I understood. She did not
want to come with me to church. She felt guilty.
And so I went back to church and I humbled myself.
I moved back in with my mom. She was going to
church in Chino Hills and they had a flourishing
pro -life ministry for people that have had an
abortion. So if that's you here today and you
have... Had that in your past. It is not the
unforgivable sin. It is not something that you
should be condemned for. It is something that
God wants you to bring to him and confess, and
he will cover you by his blood. He will wash
you by the power of his blood, and you will be
made brand new. There are ministries out there
that help do that. Forgiven and Set Free is a
great Bible study. There's a few others we could
talk after, but I just want you to know this
message is not to condemn you. And this is not
to shame you whatsoever. I myself am a post -abortive
dad, and I have been forgiven and set free of
this sin. Because no matter what your sin is
in your life, the enemy wants to use it to condemn
you. But he's a liar, and God is greater. Amen?
Amen. Praise God for that. Fast forward 15 years
later, I met my beautiful wife at church. We
had three kids together. We have three beautiful
daughters together. They're still at my house.
I'm so thankful for them. They're precious. Teenage,
does anyone have any teenage or had teenage girls
before? Yeah, they're just a bundle of joys,
aren't they? No, they really are. They stretch
me. They make me more like Jesus. But the reason
why we're talking about this today is because,
you know what? God has called us to be salt and
light in the culture. God has called us, and
salt is meant to keep things from rotting, keep
things from decaying, and our society is decaying.
And the reason why we're talking about this is
because so many children have died from abortion.
You know, by the grace of God, we're going to
turn in our Bibles to Colossians chapter 1. So
let's go ahead and jump there. Because I could
talk all day, but you know what? The most important
thing is the word of God. The most important
thing is that we hear from the Lord. And I'll
say this. So Colossians chapter 1, verse 16.
So the title of the message today is What Does
God Say About Life? And it brings me to my first
point. It says that God says you have value.
And we get this value from Colossians 1, verse
16. And so it says, For by him were all things
created that are in heaven and that are on earth,
visible and invincible, whether they be thrones
or dominions or principalities or powers. All
things were created by him and for him. That's
where we start. Okay, why do human beings have
value? Well, right here in Colossians 1 .16,
the Bible says that Jesus is the one that has
created you, and he creates you for himself.
That gives you instant value. Jesus is the source.
He is the authority. He is the originator of
our beginnings. This means that he is the plane
of our existence. He is the hand that brought
us forth from the womb. And he is the one that
we were created for. That means you guys, everybody
in this place, everyone you've ever seen on the
face of this planet, every baby in the womb,
created for Jesus and by Jesus. That's what we
need to take note of here today. Every single
human has immense value. And it's all about King
Jesus. Creation brings glory to God. And God
tells us in his word in John chapter 1 verse
3, all things were made through him and without
him nothing was made that was made. Let me say
that again. All things were made through him
and without him nothing was made that was made.
There's nothing on the face of this planet that
Jesus didn't speak into existence. The Bible
is very clear. In fact, I love that the Bible
says in John 15, 5, it's not in my notes, but
John 15, 5 states that we could do nothing apart
from Jesus. When he's saying I'm the vine and
you are the branches, you could do nothing apart
from me. So you're created for him, you're created
by him, and you could do nothing apart from him.
We are surrounded and encompassed by Jesus Christ.
Romans 11, 36 says it this way. For of him and
through him and to him are all things. To whom
be the glory forever. Amen. Ever. Amen. For of
him and through him and to him are all things.
This is the groundwork that we're laying here.
Your value comes from Jesus. And you're created
for his good pleasure. And we're to praise him
for that. That brings me to my next point. God
says that he made us in his image. So the first
thing is you're created for him and by him. The
second thing is you're made in his image. Let's
turn to Genesis chapter 1. We're going to start
in verse 24. Genesis chapter 1, verse 24. How
are you guys doing today? You guys all right?
All right, good. Praise God. This has been like
the best summer. It's not been super hot. It's
been nice. It's almost too cold to go to the
beach, huh? It is. It's like, what's going on?
I was like, like we had to take a sweater to
the beach. It's like, you go, it's like, it's
89 out here. You go to the beach, it's 79. And
then the wind chill and you're like, I'm at the
beach. Why am I in a sweater? But praise God
for that. All right, Genesis chapter one, verse
24. Then God said, let's take note here. Then
God said, let the earth bring forth the living
creature according to its kind. Cattle and creeping
thing and beasts of the earth each. according
to its kind. And it was so. And God made the
beasts of the earth according to its kind, cattle
according to its kind, and everything that creeps
on the earth according to its kind. And God saw
that it was good. So like, when the Bible is
repeating something over and over, take note
of that. There's a reason for it. He's trying
to communicate to you that he is making something
very specific in that way. according to its kind.
The birds, the beasts, the creeping thing. And
then he stops, he pauses, and verse 26 says,
then God said, let us make man in our image,
according to our likeness. Let them have dominion
over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the
air, over the cattle, over all the earth, and
every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
So God created man in his own image. In the image
of God, he created him. Male and female, he created
them. And everybody said, amen. So this is where
we get our value from, okay? It's very, very
foundational. You're created for him and by him.
Notice, everything is created according to its
own kind, except man is created in the image
of the God of the universe. Not the angels, not
the birds, not the cattle. Just you. We matter
because of that. And Matthew Henry says in his
commentary, he says, you know, God has created
the light, the sun, the moon, the oceans, every
bird, every creeping thing first, almost to get
the whole world set up. And then he creates man
so that man could never take credit for creation.
Isn't that wonderful? Praise God for that. And
after making every command, let there be light,
let the earth bring forth, God turns, stops,
and starts a conference with the Trinity. And
he says, let us make man in our own image. In
his own likeness, nothing else is made in the
likeness of almighty God. This word likeness
means resemblance. To resemble something concretely,
to model after, to shape after. To fashion in
the same likeness of or the same manner of. Now
let me say this. In his image means you are a
figure that represents God. You're like an icon
representing the Lord. Every single human being.
Every single baby in the womb. No matter the
circumstance in which they were conceived. Whether
a man and a woman got married and conceived.
Or the baby was conceived out of wedlock. Whether
the mom is poor and dad's on drugs. Whether they're
teenage parents or whether they're older parents
in a high -risk pregnancy, whether it's a situation
of abuse, or whether the baby's going to be born
with Down syndrome. This does not, I repeat,
this does not give us the right to take the life
of an innocent human being under no circumstance.
Praise God for that. The situation does not dictate
the value of the baby. God does. And I think
one of the greatest lies here today, Is that
we tell people that in the situation of abuse,
that it's okay to have an abortion. We tell people
that when this situation happens, it's okay to
go ahead with abortion. And let me explain it
this way. A friend of mine was showing me a family
picture of his, and suddenly he had seven children.
And I know he doesn't have seven children. I
asked him how he got four more kids. And he said,
well, I got a call from CPS not too long ago.
My sister's kids. So he's got three and one on
the way at that time. And the oldest of her four
kids is 13 years old. And she was acting strange.
And so they took her to the doctor. And they
found out she was seven and a half months pregnant.
She was being abused by the stepdad. And so immediately
CPS removes these children from the home. And
they call him. And they said, come get these
kids or else they're going to go into the system.
He says, we'll be right there. So they pick them
up. And because the mom, who is an atheist, his
sister, is not walking with the Lord, does not
know Jesus, and refuses to walk with the Lord,
and she's married to this disgusting human being
who's been raping this poor young girl, she comes
to the daughter and says, look, we'll help you,
we'll help you adopt this baby, or we'll help
you raise this baby. And because she's so guilty
and so full of shame that her daughter is pregnant
with her grandkid, not because of normal circumstances,
but because her husband has been raping her daughter,
the daughter turns back, and says to her, how
come you're not offering me an abortion? This
is the situation, this is the circumstance where
you should be giving me an abortion. And she
crumbles, and she takes her to Cedars -Sinai
Hospital, not to Planned Parenthood, to Cedars
-Sinai Hospital to have a late -term, two -day
-long abortion for this poor 13 -year -old girl
and breaks this little girl. She comes back to
the house and my friend has a newborn now at
this time. And this baby is crying and she is
starting to give milk and she doesn't understand
why. She takes a shower and clumps of hair are
coming out and she doesn't understand that she's
postpartum. And her life has been broken into
pieces. We didn't help this girl. We compounded
the sin of rape with murder. And as a society,
it is one of the most horrific things that we
do day in and day out. We kill so many babies.
We kill 2 ,500 children made in the image of
God every single day in this nation. 461 babies
every single day in California. We kill more
babies than any other state across the face of
the planet. God help us. And you know what, though?
There's hope. There's hope, there's hope, there's
hope because God is greater, amen? Let's turn
to Psalm chapter eight, verse four. So not only
does God say that he's going to make you in his
image, not only does he say I created you for
you, I created you for myself. by myself for
my good pleasure. But he says in Psalm 8, verse
4, what is man that you are mindful of him and
the son of man that you visit him? You have made
him a little lower than the angels and you have
crowned him with glory and honor. You've made
him to have dominion over the works of your hands.
You have put all things under his feet. I love
this. Verse 4 says he is mindful of you, each
and every one of you. I don't care your status.
I don't care how old you are or how young you
are. The Bible says that he is mindful of you.
That you are often brought into remembrance.
This means to be observed. He's observing you.
You're brought up. You're marked as noticed in
the mind of God. And then it says that he crowns
you. That he surrounds us with a crown of glory
and honor with a shield. It's like a shield of
favor. Imagine walking with favor. He crowns
us with this glory. And this word glory means
to have an abundance of riches, splendor, and
dignity. Not necessarily riches like millions
of dollars, but riches spiritually. You know,
you could have no money in the bank and be more
richer than Jeff Bezos. You really could. I mean,
my wife and I live very humbly. We rent out a
small little house. We don't have a ton, but
I feel rich. I feel rich. My life is... And it's
amazing because God has blessed us and given
us a new life. Amen? God wants to give you glory
and honor like that. And this is what he says
about you and I. You can put your name into these
verses and God is speaking directly to you right
now. There's not a person in here that God does
not value and God does not love and God did not
send his son for. Never let anyone tell you that
you're not of value. And never let anyone tell
someone else that they don't value. Amen? Verse
6, you have made him to have dominion over the
works of your hands, and you have put all things
under his feet. I love that God gives you and
I an opportunity to have dominion over the work
of his hands. When the church is making announcements
for you to partner and to do something, if you're
going to serve in any capacity, that is an opportunity
that God is opening up to you to have dominion,
whether it's the safety team or whatever you're
going to be serving in. God is giving you an
opportunity. to oversee a small part of his work.
It could be small, it could be great, but it's
a work that God is calling us to. And he's asking
you to step into that work and let us be willing
to receive from God. Let us be willing to say,
Lord, what is it that you have for me? Where
is it that you want me to go? I'll do whatever
it is. I'll say whatever you want me to say.
Send me, here am I. Let that be on your hearts
because God has called you to have dominion.
And this word dominion means to tread down, to
subjugate, to make to specifically, to prevail
against or to reign over. It's amazing. Or it
could even mean to tread your feet over one's
feet in a wine press, over the grapes in a wine
press. God gives you dominion. So you have value
because of these things. And not only does God
give us dominion over the birds of the air and
the beasts of the field, but the works of his
hands. And God wants us to do a work. He does.
I know he does. I never thought. I'm a sinner.
I'm a massive sinner. The fact that I'm standing
here before you today should encourage you that
God could use you 10 times more mightily. Because
there's no way that, I have teachers, I promise
you, that are in utter shock that I'm standing
here teaching at a pulpit today. Utter shock.
And it's just the hand of God. And if he could
use a wretch like me, he could use anybody in
this place. That brings me to my fourth point.
God says he sees you and he knows you. Okay?
He sees you and he knows you. Psalm 139. This
is where we get the doctrine. Like if you forget
everything that's said today, Psalm 139 is where
you run to for the doctrine and the sanctity
of life. This is where God expresses from beginning
to end what happens in the womb, what he says
about it, all of that. Psalm 139. Just etch that
in your mind. So let's all turn there. Psalm
139. I know it's kind of rapid fire, but. It'll
be okay. Okay, Psalm 139, verse 1. A Psalm of
David. Oh, Lord, you have searched me and known
me. You know my sitting down. You know my rising
up. You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend
my path and my lying down. You are acquainted
with all of my ways. For there is not a word
on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, you know it
all together. I love this. It says, this means
that God is considering you and he is interested
in you. There's a very, very personal nature
here. This word searching, I love this. Man,
this is so good. Oh, man. I hope, I hope, I hope.
I feel like I'm trying to articulate something
that is so high shelf up here that I'm just going
to miss. But I'm going to try. And bear with
me. This word searching means to do a deep examination
of. To penetrate or to examine intimately. To
examine with pain and with care. This is the
way God is examining you. And then in verse 1
it says that he has known us. And this word known
means to acquire knowledge of, to ascertain,
to recognize or discern, and to find out about,
inquire of. How is this person doing? God's involvement
in your life is so deep and so intimate. God
knows the sitting down and the rising up of you,
the day -to -day stuff. He knows the average
non -Instagram, non -Facebook, sweatpants -in
-the -morning version of you. Verse three, he
says he is acquainted with all of my ways. This
word acquainted means to acquaint oneself, to
have it, to dwell with, in the same way that
you would know someone who you live with. And
those of us who are married, you don't really
know someone until you live with them, amen?
Or a brother or a sister, it doesn't matter.
You know, or, you know, if you have a sibling
and they start, you know, it's my, my brother
just got married and I'm like, well, she's going
to find out how that goes when she marries him,
you know? He got married last week. No, they're
great. He's a new creation. She's a new creation.
It's a beautiful thing, but you really get to
know somebody, you know? So God knows you like
that, but even deeper. He knows everything, the
secret things, the good, the bad. He knows your
thoughts. He knows your actions. He knows your
locations. He knows your ways and your motives.
This isn't in my notes, but Hebrew 4 .13 says,
all things are naked and open to the eyes of
him to whom we must give an account. We're open
book before the Lord. There's no hiding. There's
no covering. We could put on a good face and
come to church. We could wear slacks. We could
wear nice shoes. But I'll tell you this, God
knows what's going on. And if you walked in here
today, you're like, what is going on? What is
this message about? And I'll just detour for
a second. If you don't know for certain that
if you died today that you'd go to heaven, that
is something that needs to be taken care of today.
It's not an accident that you're here. It's not
an accident that you came into church for the
first time or you're just visiting. Or you've
been struggling with this. and you've just kind
of been going through the motions, but you've
never surrendered your life to Christ. You've
never stopped and said, God, what is it that
I need to do? Lord, help me turn from my sin.
Whatever it could be, you can turn from that
thing, whether it's addiction, whether it's lust,
whether it's pride, and you've never asked God
to forgive you of your sin. You've never turned
and said, Lord, I'm done. I'm finished. Come
be my Savior. Come forgive me. I repent. And
you actually repent. You actually turn. you actually
turn from your sin, you should do that today.
And there's going to be opportunity at the end
where people can come forward and pray with the
elders. And I'm sure there's plenty of people
that would love to lead you in the Lord today.
But you need to know, because we can leave this
place today. You can pull out to Belfour and
get T -bone, and then you're going to stand before
God, and you need to know Jesus is your Lord
and Savior. You need to be washed in the blood
of Jesus. Amen? All right, back to the study.
He knows these things about you and he still
loves you. It's so encouraging to me that God
knows the deepest, darkest secrets about me and
that he still wants to have fellowship with me.
He still, and he remembers them no more even.
When you're forgiven, the Bible says your sin
is separated as far as the east is from the west.
And so now as we move down to Psalm. 139 verse
13. This is where David gets really specific
about God's involvement with us from conception
through the womb. Very important here. Very important.
Psalm 139 verse 13. For you formed my inward
parts. You covered me in my mother's womb. I
will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully
made. Marvelous are your works. That my soul
knows very well. My frame was not hidden from
you when I was made in secret and skillfully
wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. I love
this because God's thoughts towards us are not
only all the way back to the womb, but even before
that. We'll get into that a little bit later
in the sermon. But God's thoughts towards you,
he's present. It says, when I was made in secret,
God knows that you're being conceived. God knows
when you're being birthed. And God knows you
now and forever. And the God of the universe
is the one who is articulating to you that it
is his handiwork, knitting you together, your
kidneys, your vital organs, in the womb of your
mother. And God puts together our innermost being,
skillfully wrought. This word can be translated
to embroidered. In the book of Exodus, the word
embroidered, it's interchangeable with skillfully
wrought. And God is weaving together, embroidering
babies in the womb of moms every single day.
And abortion stops that miracle and it's a tragedy.
It's absolutely tragic. That's why Satan is so
keen on it. That's why he's so, he does not care
what you call it. He doesn't care if you call
it healthcare. He doesn't care if you call it
women's rights. He does not care. Continue to
sacrifice that child. That's all he wants. He
wants you to break the heart of God. He wants
you to convince other people what you're doing
is not really what it is. It's just a procedure.
It's just a medical procedure. But it's the only
medical procedure that ends when somebody dies.
I don't know of any other medical procedure that
is successful when somebody actually dies from
it. This word covered means to screen or to cover
oneself, to be a protector. God says, I cover
you in the womb. He speaks here even of your
soul being seen by Almighty God. Verse 16. Your
eyes saw my substance, yet being unformed, and
in your book they were all written, the days
fashioned for me, when as yet there were none
of them. God is very intentional here. He understands
the days that you're going to live. He understands
what you're going to be doing in this life. He
has a calling that he has set upon you. And he
calls you to walk in that. Verse 17, how precious
are your thoughts towards me, oh God. How great
is the sum of them. If I should count them, there
would be more than the number of the sand. When
I awake, I'm still with you. Now let me just
put a picture in your mind. I was talking about
the beach earlier. I don't know if any of you
have been to the beach. I'm sure you have. Or
even just been around sand. And if you've ever
picked up a handful of sand and you try to let
it out and count every single grain of sand as
it's fallen. I'm sure we would all fail miserably
at that, but imagine that number, and then multiply
that times the amount of beaches across the face
of this planet, and that is not even close to
the amount that God is thinking about you day
in and day out. He is so intimately involved
in your life. Now, we might not be involved with
what he's doing. We might be busy doing what
we want to do, but make no mistake about it.
He cares about you. He thinks about you. He's
mindful of you often. Amen? Isaiah 44, 24. Isaiah
44, 24 says this. Thus says the Lord your Redeemer,
He who formed you from the womb, I am the Lord
who makes all things, who stretches out the heavens
all alone, who spreads abroad the earth by myself.
I love in Job that God is like, Job is complaining,
complaining. And God finally stops and says,
were you there when I put the earth and its foundations
together? Were you there when I put the stars
in the sky? Job, do you know the math? No, you
don't. Because I'm God. I know these things.
And I'm the one who pulls you from the womb.
I'm the one who's formed you. Man, he is so much
higher and so much greater. I'm so glad. I'm
so glad I'm not God. Because, you know, there's
so many things I wouldn't put up with. I'd be
like, oh, just zap that person. Burn them up
right now. It's really good that I'm not God.
But he's our redeemer. He's the one who pays
our ransom. He declares over and over throughout
the Bible that he loves you, that he's thinking
about you. You know, God says I formed you from
the womb, but we live in a culture that often
just dehumanizes children. And this is, the Bible
says there's nothing new under the sun. This
is an age -old fight. In the 1800s, it was the
slaves, they were referred to as property, they
were not fully human, and it was completely legal
to own slaves as property. And they probably
said something like this, if you don't like slavery,
don't own a slave. Today they say, if you don't
like abortion, don't have an abortion. During
World War II, it was the Jews. If you weren't
fully human, you needed to be exterminated because
you were Jewish. You were unfit. Later, we're
going to see this movie called The 1916 Project.
You're going to see some wicked stuff about Nazi
Germany and its ties to Planned Parenthood. The
writings that the board of Planned Parenthood
books that they wrote impressed Hitler. And you'll
see that. That eugenicist, racist beginnings
came from Planned Parenthood. While we were messing
around, just trying to do it secretly, they were
actually doing it in Nazi Germany. And that's
why Planned Parenthoods and abortion clinics
are in neighborhoods of color. Because they're
trying to exterminate. Did you know, oh man,
I don't even want to get into the movie. If you
guys have time today, it's an hour and ten minutes.
It's an eye -opening movie. You come and you
won't be regretted. We're going to feed them,
right? You're going to feed them. You're even
going to get fed. I mean, shoot, man. Praise
God for that. And you know, the last 20 years,
this is how scary it is. The last 20 years, you
would have had a greater chance of surviving
the war in Iraq than being a baby in the womb
in America. More black babies are killed in New
York than are being born. And it's a demonic
argument. Abortion says this. You lay down your
life so that way I can have riches, comfort,
education, convenience, health care. But the
Lord says, I lay down my life so that your life
may be more abundant and you may be a new creation.
Everything God does, the enemy tries to turn
down and he tries to destroy. And that's why
he loves abortion. Because he could go in there
and he could try and stop a work that God's doing.
We know God cares about these babies in the womb.
He says many things about these babies in the
womb. Psalm 127 verse 3 and 4. This is a good
one. If you're a note taker, you should just
note these verses in the margin of your Bible
or in your notes. Psalm 127, verse three. Behold,
the children are a heritage from the Lord. Fruit
of the womb is a reward. You know, this verse
speaks to God directly assigning children to
you. It's not a mistake. I don't know, if you
guys have children, And usually they do stuff
that you did and you're like, man, I can't stand
that part about them. But it's just like you,
you know. And it's like, man, I love my kids
so much. They truly do make me want to seek the
Lord because I'm going to stand before God for
how I raised them. The Bible says train up a
child in the way they should go and then when
they get old they will not depart from it. But
I want to make sure I'm training and not telling
my child the way it should go. I want to make
sure that I'm modeling what it's like to walk
with the Lord. And that they would also, a lot
of it is caught, not taught. They're watching
you. You're showing them how to live it out.
They're watching you read your Bible. They're
watching you raise your hands and praise God.
They're watching you forgive people who you need
to forgive that have hurt you and wronged you.
And you weren't the one who was in the wrong.
But you're being like Christ to them. They need
to see that in your life. God calls us to do
that, and that's why it's a reward, because it
makes you more like Jesus. Verse four, like arrows
in the hands of a warrior, so are the children
of one's youth. And I love this. One pastor,
you guys all agree we're in a spiritual battle?
Yep, we're all in a spiritual battle. And if
we're in a spiritual battle, The Bible tells
you that children are like arrows in the hands
of a warrior. This pastor said, I want to have
as many children as I can. I think he has 10,
11, or 12 children. So I looked at my wife and
I said, can we please be like that pastor? You
know, the Bible says, she says, no way, bud.
You know, we have three beautiful children. My
wife has very rough pregnancies, but I'll say
this to this verse. Part of my job, I get to
meet pastors and go speak at churches and be
there. I was gonna be in Pasadena, and I was
gonna meet with Pastor Xavier, and my family
was gonna meet me there. I was already down in
that area. But none of us had eaten, and we were
tired, and it was a lot of hours without eating
and being there. And now it's nine o 'clock at
night, we're tired, and we're hungry. And my
wife and I don't fight, but I would say that
sometimes we may have intense fellowship. And
so at the end of this night, we had had some
intense fellowship trying to get to where we
were going to eat. And I hadn't articulated clearly
enough what the plan was. And there was a misunderstanding.
And when plans change fast, you have to, some
of these things I need to be more mindful of.
And so we were at odds for a second. We finally
got to where we were going to eat. And it was
very quiet at dinner, I'll say. And my wife gets
up to go get something to drink. And right then,
as soon as there was a space there, my daughter
Natalia turns and she goes, Dad, you're under
spiritual attack. And I was like, I know. And
she's like, yeah, but you're losing. And I go,
I know. And she's like, Dad, you need the fruit
of the Spirit. And then now my wife's coming
back, so the conversation stops. Dinner ends
abruptly. Now we're on a ride home. So we drove
separately. So my wife takes two of my daughters,
and then I take Natalia with me. And now we're
driving home. It's about a 40 -minute drive.
And for 40 minutes, I got an earful, a sermon
about the fruit of the Spirit. My daughter, yeah,
my daughter, she starts to go, Dad, you need
to have self -control. You need to be slow to
anger. You need to have gentleness, kindness,
joy, peace, long -suffering. I'm like, what?
Who told you this? And she's like, you did. And
I was like, man, praise God. But it blessed my
heart because, you know, she's pouring into me.
She's restoring me. You spend all day pouring
into other people. You need to be prayed up.
You need to be on walk circumspectly, the Bible
says. And so the fruit of spending time with
her, of sharing the word of God with her, of
learning the Galatians fruit of the spirit was
bearing right there in that moment. And so I
was so blessed by that. So now we get home. My
wife doesn't know that I just heard the best
sermon I've ever heard. I'm smiling ear to ear
and she's, you know, not, we're at odds. And
so I started explaining. I was like, you'll never
believe. I just got the best sermon from Natalia.
She was telling me, you need the fruit of the
spirit, da, da, da. And it brought us back together
immediately. Immediately. And that's like arrows
in the hands of a warrior because you're in a
fight. And those of you that are married, you
need to know, Satan is just trying to bring,
you guys are not each other's enemy. Satan would
like you to think that, but you're not. And you
need to love one each other. And the men here,
we need to be the ones to die first. I'm like,
let her die first. But no, the Bible calls us
to die first. But you know what? God has a plan.
God has a plan. And let's turn to Judges chapter
13. Judges chapter 13. Now, when you have time,
this whole chapter, completely is about Samson
before he's even born. The whole chapter is about
Jesus appearing to Samson's parents, Samson's
mom specifically, in a Christophany appearance,
him appearing in the Bible before he actually
came on earth, and he's explaining to her very
specific details about her son who's not even
in the womb yet. Judges 13 .3. And the angel
of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to
her, Indeed, now you are barren and have borne
no children, but you shall conceive and bear
a son. Now, therefore, please be careful not
to drink wine or similar drink and not to eat
anything unclean. For behold, you shall conceive
and bear a son, and no razor shall come upon
his head. For the child shall be a Nazarite to
God from the womb, and he shall begin to deliver.
Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. This
man, Samson, God knew him before he was born.
He knew that he was going to have a calling upon
his life. If you guys even have more time, the
Nazarite vow is a whole other chapter in the
Bible you can look up. All of these stipulations.
And so not just the cutting of the hair and the
strong drink. It just goes on and on. All the
things that have to be fulfilled to be a Nazarite,
to keep the Nazarite vow. And God is imparting
this to her before he's even born. He's not even
there yet. God's intentionality is so clear.
I think he puts this stuff in the word of God
so clearly for us. If you look in the book of
Matthew. John the Baptist is doing backflips
in the womb when his mom sees Mary, and it's
recorded in the Bible. And the name he uses for
baby in the womb is Bravos. It's the same name
they use for the baby in the womb and the name
they use for the baby outside of the womb. God
is so intentional and so specific. These things
are there for you to see, to know, and to take
heart of, especially what's going on in today's
society. I think everything that we learn in
the Bible should be received and then lived out.
This is great that you're here. Continue to come
to church every Sunday. Every time you guys get
together, be here. But don't let this be a time
where you just get spiritually fed, high five
Pastor Nathan, and then walk out and don't live
it out. We need to live this out. It's today.
It's us. It's not someone else. It's incumbent
upon you and incumbent upon me. Luke 1 says it
this way. I love this. Luke 1, 15. Speaking of
John the Baptist, for he will be great in the
sight of the Lord and shall drink neither wine
nor strong drink. Isn't that crazy? I mean, the
Bible, when people have a serious calling on
their life, God calls them not to drink. It's
crazy. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit,
and catch this, even from his mother's womb.
How many of you guys knew you could be filled
with the Holy Spirit in the womb? I did not until
I read this verse. Psalm 71, verse 6. You are
he who took me out of the womb. My praise shall
be continually of you, O Lord. But what does
it say? There's a ton more. We don't have the
time. But there's a ton more verses. If you did
a word study on out of the womb or baby, the
scriptures go into depth about this. I'm just
trying to give you the little nuggets of gold.
Real clear ones. But the scripture is also very
clear. When we don't recognize God, when we don't
value human life, what does the Bible say about
that? It says that we profane his name. Leviticus
8 .21. We should have that. Leviticus 8 .21.
Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed
to Molech. For you must not profane the name
of your God. I am the Lord. When we sacrifice
our children to the god Moloch, or healthcare,
or career, or education, or convenience, this
is what it looks like. This is the god Moloch.
They used to have this statue, and they would
heat up the hands of the statue. And they would
put their brand new born, baby boy or baby girl,
and sacrifice and sizzle this child until the
baby was dead on the statue for convenience,
for prosperity. And you see the people down below
playing the drums and the horns so you couldn't
hear the baby scream. It's kind of similar to
how we do when we just drive by Planned Parenthood.
Nobody looks or bats an eye. Or how the Jewish
people were being taken in the trains and the
churches at the time were just saying, sing a
little louder, while they were being hauled away
to concentration camps and being gassed and murdered.
This is an age -old fight. The Bible says there
is nothing new under the sun. But what should
we do about this? The Bible says in Proverbs,
31 verse 8 and 9. Open your mouth for the speechless
and the cause of all who are appointed to die.
Open your mouth, judge righteously, plead the
cause of the poor and needy. I'm pretty sure
everybody in this room knows somebody that has
had an abortion or knows of somebody who knows
somebody that's had an abortion. We've all been
affected. And if you don't, you know me now and
I've had an abortion. But here's the deal. When
I speak, I've been able to speak to high school
kids. I got to even speak to the high school
and junior high group where I fell out of from
the church that I was at before I had an abortion.
And I got to speak directly to them. And I asked
them a question. How many of you guys know somebody
who's pregnant in high school? Every single kid
raised their hands. We all know someone who's
going to be affected by abortion. And you have
the opportunity to point them to the scriptures
and to pour into them the love of God. To pour
into them his plan for their life. And to pour
into them their purpose. Because God loves them.
And he thinks about them more than the number
of the sand. And there's a plan. There's a way
out. Proverbs 24, verse 11 and 12. Deliver those
who are drawn toward death and hold back those
stumbling to the slaughter. I don't know anybody
else who is more drawn towards death and being
pulled to the slaughter than a baby in the womb
who is voiceless. You have an opportunity to
be a part of something that is eternal business
this Saturday and very, very important. Just
your presence by being outside. Outside of abortion
clinic, we know when Christians are outside praying,
we see abortion rates go down up to 70 % those
days. When you're outside praying, when I heard
that statistic, I was outside in abortion praying
for the first time in 15 years since I had an
abortion myself. I've seen God save over 1 ,000
babies and 1 ,000 people come to Christ from
going outside, sharing the gospel, and just being
the hands and feet of Jesus. It's nothing of
us, it's all of him. And you have that opportunity.
And if you say, surely we did not know this,
does not he who weighs the hearts consider it?
And he who keeps your soul, does he not know
it? And will he not render to each man according
to his deeds? I believe that every Christian
stood before God for slavery. I believe that
Christians in Nazi Germany stood before God for
the Jews in the internment camps. And I believe
us as Christians will stand before God for abortion
in our nation. We have an opportunity this Saturday,
and I got a special bonus for you today. Let's
turn in our Bibles to Isaiah chapter one, because
we're doing so good on time. This is some of
my favorite part of the scripture, and it sums
it very well here. Chapter one, verse 12. Isaiah
is speaking on behalf of God to the people of
Israel who are flourishing. They're having long
prayer meetings. They're having long church services,
festivals, and new moons, and Sabbaths, and celebration.
All while, at the same time, babies are being
sacrificed to Moloch. And this is what God says
about that. He says, when you appear to me, when
you come to appear to me, who has required this
of your hand to trample my courts? Bring no more
futile sacrifices. Incense is an abomination
to me. The new moons and the Sabbaths and the
calling of the assemblies, I cannot endure iniquity
and the sacred meeting. Your new moons and your
appointed feasts my soul hates. They are trouble
to me. I am weary of burying them. God says he
hates that. He hates it. When you spread out
your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Even
though you make many prayers, I will not hear.
Your hands are full of blood. When we ignore
the shedding of innocent blood, when we ignore
that, God says he's not listening. We need to
pay attention. In Deuteronomy chapter one, when
this man shows up dead and they measure from
the dead body to the closest city, there's a
whole length of things that they do to sacrifice
a young bull that's never been worked at a river
that's not being used and a land that's not being
worked. And there's this whole process where
they go before the Lord and they ask for forgiveness.
The city leaders, the priests, the Levites, the
elders, and they all go before the Lord and say,
Lord, forgive us of this blood for we knew not.
Would you atone for us? We're all going to be
held accountable for these innocent children.
But I love that God never leaves it there. He
never leaves it there. It's never hopeless. It's
daunting, but it's not hopeless. Verse 16. Wash
yourselves. Make yourselves clean. Put away evil
from your doings from before my eyes. Cease to
do evil. Learn to do good. Seek justice, rebuke
the oppressor, defend the fatherless. When a
mom and dad are walking into an abortion clinic,
that mom and that dad have abandoned that child
and that baby is fatherless. You'll be stepping
into a fatherless ministry. And it says, plead
for the widow. Come now, let us reason together.
Oh, I love that. I love it because the Lord says,
you know what, I'm so, us as people, it would
be like, you see the filth, you see the sin,
you see the shame, and instead when someone should
tell you to go pound sand and get away from me,
depart from me, you worker of iniquity, God would
say, come now. Let's work this out. Let us reason
together, says the Lord. Though your sins are
like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.
And though they are red like crimson, they shall
be as wool. I love that. No matter what you have
going on in your life, no matter what sin has
happened, God doesn't leave it there. Bring it
to the cross today. Ask him for forgiveness of
that. He will wash you. He will remember it no
more. And not only will he, he doesn't make you
better. He doesn't fix what's going on in your
life. He makes it completely brand new. As if
you'd never sinned before. He's that good. He
is good enough to save to the uttermost. Man,
I'm so thankful. God has done a work through
this ministry. And when we go out, I have the
high honor of partnering with Cali Choice and
Options Pregnancy Center. I think we have a slide
of us outside. We're at Compton Plant Parenthood.
So if you'll see that van right there, that's
an ultrasound van. And that's Marjorie, our nurse.
She's a registered nurse. We take her and the
van out there and our team gets to share the
gospel. And yep, we keep going. We got one more.
So when we're out there, we actually get to share
the gospel with people. We actually get to point
them to Christ. And then this is a young lady
getting on the bus. Through the fruit of that
and through the help that's given to them. Next
slide. We get to walk with moms and help them
with baby showers and help them, you know, through
this process. We got another slide here. And
that's the baby. Yeah, praise God for that. But
we need your help. We need support. We're donation
supported. You could scan that and we have a
few cool things for you today. In the foyer,
we have a table. When you come and you support,
I think it's at 35 a month, they send to your
house this battle box that equips you for the
fight. A bunch of literature, information. Also,
it involves you on an online community with a
bunch of like -minded Christians. They send a
stainless steel white rose mug and a hat. and
you'll get a free shirt here today, but the box
is sent to your house. Sophie Scholl, when she
went up, she started the White Rose Resistance
with her brother, and her last words were, the
sun still shines. And we made these bronze and
white roses that say, the sun still shines right
here. And people... We give them out to people
when they support at 70 a month. They put this
on their nightstand and it reminds them to be
praying for the unborn, to be praying for the
ministry because we're seeing babies saved and
we need prayer warriors. So you'll get one of
those today. If you scan the card, if you don't
scan, we have a paper and pen you could sign
up that way. But last but not least, we're raising
up Gideons. And when you sign up at 144 a month,
you get a Damascus steel brand new sword to put
on your mantle because you have joined the fight.
And we really, we'll send this to your house.
I only have one on hand today, but we'll make
sure you get it all sent to your house. You put
this on your mantle. This is a real sword. Don't
give this to the kids. But we give this, we give
these out because your support truly makes. a
life -saving difference. I get to hold these
babies. I get to help support them. We get to
get them gifts. We get to walk with them. And
this is just Christianity. This is Christianity
101, amen? All right, let me close in prayer.
Heavenly Father, we just come before you, and
I thank you, God, for this opportunity, Lord,
to share with you, to share with your church
your word and what you say about life. Lord,
I pray right now, if there's anybody here who
does not know you as Lord and Savior, Lord, that
they could just say something like this in their
hearts. Lord, Lord, I'm a sinner and I need you.
I believe you died on the cross. You rose again
from the graves. I've broken your law and I have
missed the mark. I have sinned against you. Lord,
forgive me. Lord, wash me. Lord, make me clean.
Lord, you will hear that prayer. You will forgive
them their sins and you will come and dwell inside
of them. And so, Lord, if there's anybody here
right now that needs to receive you, I pray they
could pray something like that, or they could
come and pray with one of the prayer elders,
one of the elders of the church, and receive
you as Lord and Savior, and know for certain
that they're going to heaven. Lord, I pray right
now for this church. Lord, I pray that people
would make time this Saturday. We have a lot
going on, but it's about an hour and a half of
time. I'm pretty sure there's going to be burritos
after even. And God, that we would just go and
pray. No one has to say anything. They're just
gonna worship. They're just gonna pray. And we're
gonna be there for about an hour and a half.
And Lord, we'll see babies saved. We'll see people
come to Christ. And more importantly, we'll see
you be glorified. So I thank you for Hosanna
Christian Fellowship. I thank you for Pastor
Nathan, him being a bold warrior that's allowing
us to even share this truth. Lord, I pray that
you would just have your will be done here. In
Jesus' mighty name we pray. And all God's people
said, amen. God bless you guys.